Chao Lung Wen

Teledermatologia - Passado, presente e futuro

Teledermatology is the area of Telemedicine that studies the application of telecommunication and information technology to dermatology practice without the presence of a specialist. It is a potential manner to deliver health planning, research, education, clinical meetings, second medical opinions and dermatological care to populations who cannot easily travel. The evolution, cost reduction and dissemination of telecommunication and information technology have enabled the implementation of low cost and comprehensive teledermatology systems to support clinical practice all over the world.

Cybertutor: um objeto de ensino na Dermatologia

It was developed a teaching tool in Dermatology for undergraduate medical students, using an interactive website, the Cybertutor. Clinical cases, lectures and updated bibliography were selected. Photographies of dermatological lesions were taken from ambulatory patients. The topics of the lectures were based on the current curriculum of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul. The Cybertutor is a dynamic and modern teaching tool, allowing constant innovation.

A university extension course in leprosy: telemedicine in the Amazon for primary healthcare

There is a high prevalence of leprosy in the Amazon region of Brazil. We have developed a distance education course in leprosy for training staff of the Family Health Teams (FHTs). The course was made available through a web portal. Tele-educational resources were mediated by professors and coordinators, and included the use of theoretical content available through the web, discussion lists, Internet chat, activity diaries, 3-D video animations (Virtual Human on Leprosy), classes in video streaming and case simulation. Sixty-five FHT staff members were enrolled. All of them completed the course and 47 participants received a certificate at the end of the course. At the end of the course, 48 course-evaluation questionnaires were answered. A total of 47 participants (98%) considered the course as excellent. The results demonstrate the feasibility of an interactive, tele-education model as an educational resource for staff in isolated regions. Improvements in diagnostic skills should increase diagnostic suspicion of leprosy and may contribute to early detection.

Impact of a cybertutor in dermatological teaching.

The potential value of multimedia programs as an accessory instrument for medical education has already been demonstrated in several areas. However, most of them lack adequate validation. The authors proposed this study in order to develop and evaluate a computer multimedia program, aiming at providing a more attractive and state of the art learning tool in dermatology.

Dermatúnel: modelo de ambiente interativo de aprendizagem em dermatologia

O Ambiente Interativo de Aprendizagem (AIA) e um modelo educacional que integra recursos de computacao grafica 3D e contextualizacao, com objetivo de transmitir um conjunto de conhecimentos (ilhas de conhecimento), de forma precisa e agil, para pessoas que nao conhecem o assunto. Utiliza recursos de multimidia apoiados em ambientacao contextualizada para motivar os participantes na retencao de conhecimento. Na primeira versao, foram abordados oito assuntos relevantes de dermatologia. O modelo foi implementado no 62o Congresso Brasileiro de Dermatologia e denominado Dermatunel. Participaram das visitas 3295 pessoas, num periodo de quatro dias. Os resultados demonstraram alta satisfacao dos participantes. Possui grande potencial como ferramenta educacional para formacao medica e orientacao do publico geral para fins de prevencao de doencas.

Proposal of e-learning strategy to teach Atraumatic Restorative Treatment (ART) to undergraduate and graduate students

BackgroundThe aim of this study was to evaluate e-learning strategy in teaching Atraumatic Restorative Treatment (ART) to undergraduate and graduate students. The sample comprised 76 participants—38 dental students and 38 pediatric dentistry students—in a specialization course. To evaluate knowledge improvement, participants were subjected to a test performed before and after the course.ResultsA single researcher corrected the tests and intraexaminer reproducibility was calculated (CCI = 0.991; 95% IC = 0.975–0.996). All students improved their performances after the e-learning course (Paired t-tests p < 0.001). The means of undergraduate students were 4.7 (initial) and 6.4 (final) and those of graduate students were 6.8 (initial) and 8.2 (final). The comparison of the final evaluation means showed a statistically significant difference (t-tests p < 0.0001).ConclusionsThe e-learning strategy has the potential of improving students’ knowledge in ART. Mature students perform better in this teaching modality when it is applied exclusively via distance learning.

Dental students’ and lecturers’ perception of the degree of difficulty of caries detection associated learning topics in Brazil

Purpose: It aimed to explore the degree of difficulty of caries-detection-associated-topics perceived by dental students and lecturers as pedagogical step in the development of learning objects for e-learning. Methods: A convenience sample comprising ninety-eight subjects from different academic levels (undergraduate/graduate students and pediatric dentistry lecturers) participated. Two spreadsheets (isolated/relative) were created considering key topics in the caries detection process. The isolated evaluation intended to explore each topic in an isolated way, while the relative intended to classify, comparatively, the participants’ perceived difficulty per topic. Afterwards, data were analyzed. All values on spreadsheets were combined obtaining the subject’s final perception. Associations between the subjects’ degree of the perceived difficulty and academic level were estimated. ANOVA was used to determine differences regarding the perception among evaluated topics in distinct groups. Results: Caries histopathology and detection of proximal carious lesions were the topics perceived as the most difficult in the process of caries detection by both students and lecturers. Differentiation between an extrinsic pigmentation and a brown-spot (caries lesion) as well as differential diagnosis between caries and enamel developmental defects or non-carious lesions were considered as more difficult by undergraduates in comparison to graduates/lecturers (regression-coefficient=14.54; Standard Error=3.34; P<0.001 and 8.40, 3.31, and 0.01 respectively). Conclusion: Topics as histopathology and detection of proximal caries lesions were identified as the most difficult despite the academic level. However, some topics are differently perceived according to the group. These results are useful for developing pedagogical material, based on the students real learning needs/expectations.

Telessaúde na Amazônia: implantação, resultados e perspectivas

Known for its thick forest and some road transportation deficiencies, the Amazon region has problems with one primary issue for the public sector; the health of its population. Only 5% of the brazilian population lives in this region which occupies approximately 40% of the national territory. Health care in the Amazon includes a range of issues to be solved by public authorities, the most important one is the difficulty to diagnose and treatment several regional diseases which have their own clinical features. This is why the Telemedicine Center opened recently in the region is an inclusive innovation for the population, having a positive influence on the development of telemedicine for the area known as the Legal Amazon. Among the most immediate benefits of the Telemedicine Center for the Amazon Region, the main ones are to improve the health care quality for the population and to support health professionals very much isolated from the rest of the country, as well as monitoring the endemic diseases of the region. This piece of work will show the important progress achieved on isolated population health care in a short period of time. It also shows the long journey made with its difficulties and the technical information from the implementation to the consolidation of the Amazon Center on Telemedicine.